Category Archive

We’ve released new case studies on our work in water for World Water Day 2017 Combining Humanitarian and Development Approaches in Bangladesh: Using VRA and PCMA methodologies From Beneficiaries to Buyers: Creating a viable market for toilets in the Philippines Social Accountability in Lebanon: Promoting dialogue in humanitarian and development WASH programmes Social Accountability in Pakistan: Participatory governance in urban … Read More

Achieving the targets within Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG) will require huge infrastructure investment to improve services and to extend them to those they currently do not serve. Social accountability Sustained universal coverage and water security will also need financial and institutional strengthening. This is particularly challenging for the water sector as it is highly dependent (75%) on donor funding … Read More

Louise Medland, WASH Resilience Advisor, examines the long term effects of annual flooding and waterlogging on people’s lives in Bangladesh. Heavy rainfall during July and August in 2011 caused severe flooding in southern districts of Bangladesh, particularly Satkhira, Jessore, Khulna and Cox’s Bazar. Close to 90% of the population were temporarily displaced from their homes and were forced to take … Read More

Brian McSorely introduces to solar pumps, the developments he’s seen over his career and his hopes for the technology for the future. Whilst World Water Day is a time to remind ourselves of the injustice that up to one billion people still lack access to safe water, this year I am going to focus on the positive achievements that I’ve … Read More

This resource, published by the Bayan Academy for Social Entrepreneurship, looks at what came next and the move towards long-term recovery by helping beneficiaries become more independent. The paper provides excellent examples of success stories, courage and innovation as the individuals, groups and organisations featured ventured into market-based WASH.

WASH solutions can only implemented when they work in context. In the lead up to World Toilet Day, Katie Whitehouse explains why in some cases standards may not be achievable. Container based sanitation social enterprises are pushing the boundaries in decentralised sanitation management and yet continue to be classified as an unimproved form of sanitation. There are social enterprises – … Read More

In the lead-up to World Toilet Day, Oxfam’s Katie Whitehouse looks at how water, sanitation, hygiene and development are connected. In the 1800s, towns and cities across the world, including London, were battling cholera epidemics. Before John Snow published his theory in 1849 that cholera was a waterborne disease, efforts to manage poor sanitation and hygiene were minimal. The realisation … Read More

Humanitarian camps are dark at night. The curfew is sunset and the camp is heaving. Spilling out of their crowded tents onto the streets, people sit around dim cooking stoves talking and waving the mosquitoes away. The streets are slippery with mud, dotted with deep pools of stagnant water. Making your way to the toilet after dark is treacherous, the … Read More